What on earth was that show all about...it was so disapointing compared to all of his other tours and a real departure from the reviews from the first night ...and by the sound of the boos in the crowd I wasnt the only one a little disapointed.

Dont get me wrong, A prince gig is always soemthing special but exactly how long was PRINCE actually there? 8:45 the show starts and Prince doesnt actually come on until a few mins past 9 and then he spends so much time going up and down on that damn hatch i thought I was watching Thora Hurd on a stairlift.

The choice of songs was unispiring and I honestly (as did teh people around me) got the impression he just thought "ah well, I play what I dont play tonight at another show"

There seemed to be no passion in what he was doing and, if you're going to bill your show as "The last time EVER the hits will be played" at least play a decent number of what Joe Public would consider to be your hits...Purple Rain, Kiss, Cream and U Got The Look, Lets go Crazy dont cut the mustard as my last opportunity to see teh tracks that got me and kept me into Prince.

As for the Encores it seemed a huge effort for him to actually drag his ass back on that lift.

It just wasnt a good show and that even with me having great seats...such a disapointment and that was only the second night.

By the sound of it Friday wasnt a good day for him what with the aftershow no show and the booing.


On the plus side I did see an excellent fight....A girlfriend had her boyfriend by the throat and her friend managed to calm her down.....only to land a huge slap on her friends fellas face....classic he didnt see it coming - THAT id pay £31.21 to see again!!!

purpledoveuk said:

ok ... I actually laughed reading this ... so 1/2 a for your post

Hang on a minute. I was there and I heard the boos. As far as I'm concerned they were good natured boos as the house lights came on.

westv said:

Really? I thought it was the fact he said " good night London" and then buggered off after 1 hour at which point the lights came on, then they went back down for 10 minutes and the band came out after another 10 minutes they wheeled out Prince-in-a Box and he played a couple more and then the lights were on again.

It was just a weird, weird show.people were getting up for drinks during Purple Rain, he spent so much time under the stage it was unbeliveable and the show was just so short and the songs were made up of a mad mixture of album tracks and a sprinkling (very small) of hits.

I could only afford 1 show - the first night sounded awesome, teh second night is clearly his worst so far

purpledoveuk said:

Well I have to disagree 100% here, Wednesday nights show was pretty dull in comparison to Fridays, in fact Friday was one of the best Prince shows I've ever seen..his guitar playing was mafnificent and the opening of Down By The Riverside really got everyone on their feet (unlike Purple Rain on the Wednesday). People are generally rude these days, beer and text messaging is more important than listening to the artist they have paid to see!.

You know, I was there and it was one of my favourite concerts of any artist ever. Fantastic. A real party all the way, with a brilliant start and a few real treats along the way (Anotherloverholeinyourhead and Joy in Repetition). It was a bit short, but it packed real energy and fun into its whole duration. I loved it. Although it didn't have the hits of Wednesday night, the setlist was better paced.

Sorry you didn't enjoy it but I feel like those people who write in to the NME and say 'Was your reviewer at the same gig as me????'

sean2003 said:

I really enjoyed it too and I'm not a hardcore Prince fan.

i was at all 3 shows to date and Friday's concert was the best of the 3. i will send full reviews in due course. there were no boos my friend - just some banter when the house light went up

purpledoveuk said:

Ooo Yeah I saw a good fight - wonder if it was the same one? They were in black I think - we were waiting for indigo (on the blow holes - as the Q was so big) and everyone was watching them - he was W A S T E D - some people stepped in and got a slap. Then a security guy was saying - just take her home - she wants to go home.

I too have to disagree, Was my 3rd time and the wifes 1st time and we both had a fantastic evening

P0PL1Fe said:

Yeah - sorry - I got on the fight a bit much there - re the concert, yeah I enjoyed it - have seen him so many times - not the best - not the worst. Was a great little show.

ONA alone ... now that's a different ball park altogether. Blew my head off.

dayzofwyld said:

Ask 20 people why ? how ? when ? they got into Prince, it will render different replies, I much prefered Friday to the opening night

I agree that Friday night was prety poor in my opinion.

Bad sound quality, poor - dark lighting and what was with all those breaks? My opinion was that he had the breaks so people could go and buy more beer, it's in his contract with AEG/ O2

col said:

I thought Friday was the best night by far of all three. The sound was superb and the setlist was inspired! I loved the way the gig started too, very original and unexpected.

I went to the Friday and Saturday night shows. I thought Saturday night was better. I liked the end when he played unplugged versions of "Little Red Corvette", "Rasberry Beret", etc.

col said:

it's "your opinion"....but you say it's "in his contract"? so which is it? dont spread rumors if they have no basis. i highly doubt prince, let alone any other performer, would agree to going off the stage repeatedly so people could buy alcohol.

ah well each to his/her own....it just seemed rather subdued and going through the motions to me.

Far too short, far too much time off stage, far too dark

Perhaps his mind was elsewhere...mpls bridge perhaps?

Hits wise you would have much prefered Saturday night.

purpledoveuk said:

Could not agree more it was certainly lacking, it seemed that Prince was just going through the motions, song choice was poor, sound was crap & at one point I thought it had become the Macio Parker show!

I have seen him a few times in the past (94 @ NEC was Fuckin awesome) and was buzzed every time but sorry Prince I was just was not feeling it on Friday, Like Prince maybe I'm just getting to old for this shit!

It would appear the glory days are over I'm afraid so Prince R.I.P!

AWJ
[Edited 8/7/07 1:32am]

One4All4Ever said:

Interesting - that poem/saying basically says instead of moaning, do something about it...what do you propose we do about Princes lack of enthusiasm at a past concert and the fact he cut the set short by approx 45 mins and began to wrap the show up after 1 hour

purpledoveuk said:

I think I commented on this Friday night after getting back home and I agree. Dont get me wrong it was still awesome and for my first Prince gig a dream come true but it shouls have been much much more. Compared to the first and even susequent gigs this stands out for its missing element.

i think the crowd on wed night wasnt as good as the crowd on fri and i think price had to work harder to please wed crowd i think he thought oh well this lot seem to be enjoying themselves i dont need to give them anymore and he split!

purpledoveuk said:

And I would pay 31.21 again to see that female member of the audience kicking her legs up and trying to do the splits!!

dayzofwyld said:

That part is very very true....a couple of friends who commented that he seemed to lose all momentum continously leaving the stage did at least bow down to his amazing guitar/bass playing

purpledoveuk said:

Agreed 100%. This was the seventh Prince show I've seen over the years and it was the worst. Very poor sound (block 103, row Z), a weak setlist (opening with "Satisfied"?!?!?!), too much time spent below the stage, a short show, poor lighting (spotlights not following him around the stage), and it seemed completely free of passion. Thankfully I was also there on Saturday and that show was incredibly good.

One of my colleagues also attended the show (block 113 I think) and although he said Prince's guitar work was excellent - my colleague is a guitarist in a band himself - he hated the concert and has spent much of his time since saying how he saw Prince on Friday and it was "crap". It was also my girlfriend's first Prince concert and she wasn't impressed either, but loved Saturday.

I will add that while I think the set list was better on the Wednesday I cannot fault the performance when he was playing.....it sounded fantastic, his band were impressive and there was a great party atmosphere. He did manage to turn my 3 casual Prince fans from people with huge smiles when they realised how good he could be to people all slightly sad at how short it was and the songs played. I might be happier with albuym tracks but he is billing this as the "hits" and I feel there are a lot of people coming to these shows for this fact.
[Edited 8/7/07 13:09pm]

westv said:

Totally wit' u on that one! The boos started when the lights came on as the ppl didn't want it 2 end! They certainly weren't aiMed at PRINCE!
The O2 seems set on ending the concert before 11pm...i guess it's 2 do with crowd control - tubes/buses etc?
When u hear the lady saying' please make your way...etc.' it is highly unlikely and encore will happen...
It didn't happen on opening night when he came back after house lights were on for a while... But it sure did happen on Fri and sat night...

Fri. was a very different nights to weds... as was Saurday to the previous nights... They just got better and better!

endorphinuk said:

There were 2 sets of booing teh first came at approx 10:15 when he said good night london and teh lights came on after 1hr!!!!!